


see what tomorrow brings

by SadieFlood



Category: Harper's Island
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-18
Updated: 2017-12-18
Packaged: 2019-02-16 10:51:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13052508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SadieFlood/pseuds/SadieFlood
Summary: His son's betrayal still stings, but John's survived worse.What really bothers him about the whole situation is that Henry betrayed him forher.





	see what tomorrow brings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hecate](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hecate/gifts).



His son's betrayal still stings, but John's survived worse.

What really bothers him about the whole situation is that Henry betrayed him for her.

He'd thought they were on the same side, but they weren't even playing the same game.

Recovery is slow and solitary; it's not the first time he's cheated death, but it might be the last.

When he's ready, he picks up a rusted-out car with the rest of his savings and heads to California. He settles down at a motel in the desert outside of L.A., buys a box of Just for Men hair dye, and stands around outside a home-improvement store until he picks up some day labor work that gradually becomes a steady gig, off the books. 

He thinks of it as hiding in plain sight, but the truth is, no one's looking for him. He's pretty sure no one in this town even knows the name “John Wakefield,” let alone anything about his past.

But then he's flipping through the motel's thirteen cable channels one night and he sees her. Archival footage of Abby Mills and Jimmy Mance as they arrived on the mainland, Abby saying, “no comment, no comment, no comment,” as she left the police station. “Next week will mark the three-year anniversary of the massacre on Harper's Island,” a disembodied voice as the survivors flash across the screen. The voice drones on, but he focuses on Abby's face, etched with sorrow. 

Watching her feels like pressing on a bruise.

That is to say--pleasurable. 

Addictive.

*

He's out at a bar one night when he notices a brunette smiling at him from across the room. 

If he drinks enough, she might look like Sarah. 

_Or Sarah's daughter._

Later that evening, he decides that the resemblance is close enough, except for the way she's looking at him.

She's writhing underneath him, making all the right noises, but her expression suggests indifference, or maybe mild amusement. Like she's humoring him.

What he craves is something akin to grief, or fury, or pain.

He could elicit any one of those sentiments with a few small gestures, but that's just more trouble than it's worth.

Instead he finishes and sends her on her way.

Close enough won't do. It's time.

*

Recon has always been his forte.

Abby has a job, a few acquaintances, a Craftsman house all to herself.

But she lives alone.

A little research reveals that Jimmy Mance, fellow survivor and former boyfriend, moved back to the island. He's cohabitating with a local blonde who seems to be expecting.

So love, as it turns out, does _not_ conquer all. Who knew?

*

On the third anniversary of his death, Abby finds John sitting on her living room couch.

She doesn't seem surprised, which is vaguely disappointing. 

She also doesn't seem afraid. It's almost as though she's been expecting him.

Abby turns on the light. “What do you want?” she asks in a dull voice. “What's left?” 

“You sound so depressed. What's wrong?”

She lets out a harsh chuckle. 

“No, really,” he insists. “Where's your young man?”

“Spare me.”

He bares his teeth. “I already did.”

“ _Henry_ did that. Remember him? Your son, my closest and dearest friend? The murderer?”

“I could have killed you at any point in the last three years. Could have waltzed in here in the middle of the knight and driven a knife through your heart—which, by the way, I wouldn't miss—or sliced your throat. Or just force-fed you enough of those sleeping pills you've been prescribed to make sure you never woke up. I didn't do any of that. You're welcome.”

“Yeah, thanks,” she says. “Maybe it's time to get on with it.”

He's got his hand around her throat before she can even react. “Is this what you had in mind?”

“Not quite,” she says, and thrusts a letter opener into his side.

“Ouch.” He squeezes a little harder before releasing her. 

_Now_ she's looking at him with fear. 

He sits back down. “I'm starting to see why Henry liked you so much. Enough to stab me. For real,” he says. “You should have tried that on someone else before you used it on me. I barely felt it.”

“I was there when you died.” She shakes her head. “How are you still alive after what he did to you? _Why_ are you still alive?”

He shrugs. “You were his weakness. Threw him off his game. So I guess I should be thanking you.” He rubs the spot where she poked him with the letter opener. “You ever think about nature vs. nurture? Maybe you're more like him than you think. More like me. ”

She unleashes a string of expletives.

“Well, you're the 'good guy' here, but your first instinct was to kill me,” he points out.

“Or wound you and run for help.”

“Nice try, but I saw the look in your eyes when you did it,” he says. “I see it now. I know that look. I see it in the mirror every day.”

“You and your _son_ took everything from me. I'd be well within my rights to exact a little justice.”

“Sure. Eye for an eye,” he says, and stands up to leave. “Well, thanks for the hospitality, but I have an early morning tomorrow. Hope we cross paths again.”

She's visibly trembling--is it fear, or something else?--but her expression is surprisingly impassive.

He hesitates. “May I make a suggestion?”

“Get the hell out of my house before I--”

“You're not ready to follow through on that threat,” he says. “One day. But my suggestion is, should you decide to take advantage of that gift I've given you, maybe you should start with that young man of yours. Just terrible how he abandoned you like that, started a family so _quickly_ after he left you." He shakes his head. "I'll never understand how people can be so cruel."

Abby just stares at him.

"What do you say? Same time, next year?” He grins at her, and heads back to the desert.

In the morning, he checks out of the motel and drives further north; he has a new town and new name already picked out. He'll be far enough away to evade the authorities she probably called the second he steps out the door, but close enough to keep tabs on her.

Close enough to monitor her progress. 

*

It takes a couple of weeks, but Jimmy Mance ends up dead by suicide. Overdosed on sleeping pills. The news calls it survivor's guilt.

He's almost giddy.

He knows she'll come for him next, but how will she find him? What form will their confrontation take?

Will she bludgeon or butcher him? A long-range rifle, perhaps. Poison?

Or will she stand at the door of his motel room, a shell of herself, and say, "You were right about me"?

He's looking forward to finding out.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from the Fever Ray song "If I Had a Heart."


End file.
